Senior US Republican lawmakers have called on President Biden to change course when it comes to United States’ Sudan strategy.
US Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and US Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called upon the Biden administration to consider a fresh approach toward Sudan.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the two legislators criticized the administration’s “emergency diplomacy” attempts in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, stating that these efforts had “repeatedly failed.”
“Expecting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) or Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to honour their latest commitments is futile,” they said.
Commencing two weeks after the outbreak of war on April 15, 2023, the Jeddah process was initiated with the goal of swiftly halting the conflict and averting its spread to other regions within the country.
The legislators further contended that the administration’s diplomatic efforts have failed to halt the atrocities in Sudan. They highlighted reports of ethnically targeted attacks allegedly committed by tribes allied with RSF in Darfur and the ongoing obstruction of aid distribution by the SAF as clear indications of the administration’s shortcomings.
“As the United States claims success in Jeddah, more innocent Sudanese perish,” the statement said.
“The war in Sudan is an unrelenting horror that further proves the United States needs to change its strategy on Sudan,” the statement stressed.
Amid mounting concerns over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country, the demand for a shift in US Sudan policy arises. The United Nations approximates that over 25 million people in Sudan require humanitarian aid.
